Randomly started a jerk shift today between 1-2 gear. 2-3 is a pretty weak shift. Still works in drive and reverse. I wonder if maybe my shifter cable is stuck or misadjusted or something is messed up in the transmission? I checked the fluids everything seemed to be fine.
Here is the video. Hopefully it is an easy fix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0nn...ature=youtu.be
Let me know your thoughts.
That's pretty drastic if you're actually chirping tires at low RPMs like that. Unfortunately transmission issues are not my specialty. We did just recently have a discussion about this HERE. Good luck. Tim
When I checked the fluid right after it started doing this, it was about half a quart low. Probably because that seal that is at the end of the transmission which connects to the driveshaft was still leaking intermittently here and there. I had that replaced by a Toyota Master Tech with 20+ years of experience, but he couldnt get it right and it looks like it costed me this transmission.
This leak was the type of leak where you could drive thousands of miles and it would be on full and then randomly one day it would pour out and catch you off guard.
Another thing I have learned is that these transmission are very sensitive so your oil has to always be FULL. Not a quart low, half a quart low or even a quarter of a quart low.
Im going to have my mechanic check this out today, but most likely its a gonner. What a disappointment.
Moral of the story if you have an automatic TV you must account for any type of leak and make sure that it is fixed!!!
I know what it is. its happened in 3 of my Vans Replace the valve body gasket that seals the two halves of the valve body. There are four Teflon check balls that need to be replaced as well. The worn check balls(fluid flow control) and gasket allow more fluid to pass and the result is a harsh 1-2 shift. The rest of the gears don't exhibit this harsh shift. The check balls shrink and do not limit the flow of fluid in the passages of the valve body
Hi JPEARL
Where can I get those parts from and how hard is this job?
As far as I know a Toyota Dealer is where you buy the parts . And definitely have a transmission shop do the work. Valve body is very complex. The transmission must be thoroughly cleaned on the exterior because the slightest molecule of debris in a valve body passage or any where else inside the trans will cause issues or a non-working transmission. The transmission by design leaves virtually no tolerance for a misstep
if Toyota does not have it you may source the parts from ASIN-Warner directly . You should have an A44DL transmission
I went to the toyota dealership today and looked up the price for those gaskets and balls in the transmission. Wasn't too expensive, seemed like the total was around $40-50. Since my mechanic is on limited time and not experienced with opening up auto transmissions I went ahead and bought the ones they sell on ebay that are rebuilt for a great price. I figured its a better route then paying a shop around here atleast $800 to fix this issue. Plus the ones on ebay can be had for $400 + shipping.
I may try using the lucas stuff to see if i can squeeze some more mileage out of this one before swapping the new(rebuilt) one in.
I bought a "refurbished transmission" off ebay that lasted 1500 miles never again
Did not mean to scare you off with the complexity of this unit
My mechanic only charged me $200 (3 hours). Once you remove the pan, the valve body is right there.
The valve body comes out easy you just have to make sure you keep track of where the parts go and keep things very clean. For example the 30 plus bolts that secure the valve body are specific to the holes they go in. In other words you are dealing with 30 bolts each with different lengths and thread type
I bought this one. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:B:BOC:US:1120 I figured since he had 100% good reputation on ebay the products had to be good. After all if someone had a complaint im sure they would mention it in the reviews. I am a little worried now that you told me about your experience buying an ebay trans. The price is certainly too good to be true. How long ago did you buy it? The area that I live in, outskirts of Washington Dc is all about the $. I already talked to two transmission shops/guys they wanted to rebuild the whole thing for $1600.00 I can't afford that much right now. Especially since i bought the other van, i am driving that now a days while my original one sits. The only way i could get it fixed is if my mechanic tried to do it. Ofcourse this would be the first time he would ever be attempting a transmission repair in his career. Hes a really good mechanic, just doesnt know anything about auto transmission. Hes not alone, alot of people dont know about them and just say to replace them with a good enough used one.
Lucas in this case would not soften the shift action because with the check ball worn there is to much fluid actuating the clutch pack. The check balls ensure a metered amount of fluid is acting on the clutch pack. With the check ball worn to much fluid is entering the clutch pack causing a harsh shiftOriginally Posted by mahleek87
Lucas is really to keep the transmission from slipping due to worn clutch packs by increasing the thickness or viscosity of the fluid to fill in the gaps between the steel discs and the clutch lining discs of the worn parts.
Lucas in this case may make the problem worse.
Try putting the transmission in the "2" position at a stop sign and see if the 1-2 shift is much softer than when in the "D" or drive ;position This worked for me it still was a little harsh but better. After the trans shifted from L to 2 I then manually put the transmission in D for the higher speeds.
Doing this redirects the flow of fluid in the valve body into different passages because the passages that would normally come into play in the D position are locked out by the manual valve in the valve body
What is strange is I got my transmission from a different vendor but the pictures on the website you went to were identical to the pictures on this other website where I got mine 8 months ago. The seller does not exist anymore where I got mine. I only know this because I downloaded the pictures when I got mine
I already tried doing this. It was the same if not a little harsher. Could this mean we dont exhibit the same problem?
Do you remember the Ebay User ID or location where you ordered the trans from? You kinda got me worried.
The Ebay ID I cannot find because it does not exist anymoreI already tried doing this. It was the same if not a little harsher. Could this mean we dont exhibit the same problem?
Do you remember the Ebay User ID or location where you ordered the trans from? You kinda got me worried.
I have driven these Vans since 1986. the 1-2 Harsh Shift is definitely a check ball issue. A friend of mine Don who recently passed was a transmission mechanic at toyota dealers from 1977 to 1991. I spent many hours getting my education from him when he left Toyota and worked for himself.
The A40 Series of trannys has this issue
I see.
Well what did you end up doing with the eBay transmission ? Did you return it and get $ back?
By the way I have noticed that with the hard shift starting from 1-2. The shift from 2-3 has become a lot weaker.
My mechanic replaced the oil pump and I sold it at a loss of 100 bucks to one of his other customers who had a van
As long the 2-3 shift is not slipping or is not taking more than a couple seconds to engage and operation is smooth I would not worry.
Your really lucky you knew someone who could work on transmissions. Anyone I try to find is too expensive and most people dont know anything.
I hear u loud and clear I just had to get my buddy to rebuild my tranny and the parts were expensive but I use my van for everything so I had to do it good thing is once u do a full rebuild hopefully the tranny will last u forever (hopefully) mine lasted 171989 original miles so im going for 300,000 this time (hopefully)
JPERL,
After reading the repair manual for quite some time I am a little confused. It seems like there are 4 check balls in the lower valve body and 4 check balls in the upper valve body.
In this picture there are two gaskets and a plate inbetween the lower and upper valve body. Are these the two gaskets that you said need to be replaced?
In this picture you can see 4 check balls and one of them out of the 4 is apparently a larger check ball. This is in the lower valve body. Are these the ones that need to be replaced?
Then here is the upper valve body which also has 4 check balls. 3 are rubber and 1 is steel apparently.
As you can see in the diagrams it looks like there are a total of 8 check balls. 4 in the lower valve body and 4 in the upper valve body.
Which ones need to be replaced? Upper or Lower?
I am in a dilemma and cant come up with a decision. I have already received the ebay reman trans that I ordered but I would like to keep it as a back up since I have two vans now I figure I can gamble with that later. Plus since it comes with no warranty and JPERL mentioned his failed after 1500 miles, id like to gamble with that whole scenario later. My goal is to get the one inside my van working at the best price possible.
I put up a craigslist ad in my area looking for a transmission expert and got 3-4 different responses saying it was a "clutch slave" or the transmission just needs adjustment. Clearly that idea is not going to work of finding someone on craigslist because they all say different things.
Any shop is going to charge more then $1500
My mechanic is good at doing things and has alot of experience. I could trust him to take apart the trans and be able to put everything back together but then again hes not an transmission expert. I figure if the parts are only $40 bucks then we could take a shot at it. So please let me know which valve body check balls need to be replaced upper or lower, and about the gaskets.
Again the issue is a hard shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear strong enough to chirp the tires.
The gaskets need to be replaced between the valve body and the rubber or Teflon check balls should be replaced. The steel one does not need replacing.
Any shop Quoting $1500 is quoting a complete soft part overhaul such as seals gaskets o rings clutch lining plates etc and usually a torque converter for that price.
Your repair does not require removing the transmission as it is an on vehicle repair so the labor is minimal. It should cost no more than $350
You could remove the valve body (just make note of which bolts were removed from where the manual explains how to make a template to do this) yourself and take it to a transmission shop with the parts from Toyota and ask them to repair the valve body. THat should not be more than 2 hours labor for a qualified shop
There are 8 check balls. 4 in upper valve body and 4 in lower. That is according to the diagram. Which ones need to be replaced? The 4 in the lower or upper ? That is my question and yes I hope it was that easy. All the shops around here look for easy jobs and charge a lot of $ for those easy jobs.
Reply With Quote
